When Jenalia Valerio, 9, took the stage at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres in Minnesota, she had no idea that her stepfather would have the opportunity to see her perform. After all, he had been deployed in Kuwait for 10 months. Jenalia had a role in a production of White Christmas.
Before her performance on December 14, 2024, her stepfather surprised her on stage. The heartwarming reunion between Sergeant Tony Bryand and his stepdaughter was caught on camera.
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Jenalia thought she was surprising emcee Nancy Nelson with flowers.
In the video, Jenalia and another actress walked on stage with flowers for emcee Nancy Nelson. “On behalf of the theater, Nancy, we would all like to thank you for all you do here at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres,” Jenalia said to Nancy, handing her a bouquet of flowers.
“You know what?” Nancy replied. “To get these from you is just thrilling, but I really think you deserve to have these, Jenalia.”
She told Jenalia to turn around.
Jenalia didn’t realize that her stepdad was at the venue to surprise her. “You should have them, and I know somebody who wants to give them to you,” Nancy told Jenalia. In the background, Tony emerged. Then, Nancy encouraged Jenalia to turn around.
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Jenalia immediately ran up to her stepdad and jumped into his arms.
The audience cheered as the two reunited after 10 months apart. “Jenalia has not seen her daddy who has been deployed overseas for 10 months,” Nancy explained to the audience. “And he has not seen her on this stage in this show, but he will tonight.”
Jenalia had been acting on that stage for 10 weeks.
After surprising her on stage, Tony watched his stepdaughter perform for the first time. Speaking to KARE 11, he described the special experience as “a memory that we’ll never forget.”
He and his stepdaughter “have had a really good bond since I’ve came into her life,” and his 10-month deployment was challenging for both of them. “Me being gone is a big change, really hard on her,” he told the news outlet, getting emotional. “Hard on me.”
The venue shared the 'beautiful surprise' on social media.
Chanhassen Dinner Theatres shared the sweet video on Instagram and Facebook. “A beautiful surprise happened on our stage over the weekend,” the theater captioned its Instagram post. Over the video, the venue wrote, “This little girl thinks she is surprising the emcee with flowers. But there is really a surprise waiting for her.”
